�Թϲ�����

The Chinese city at the center of the coronavirus epidemic closed its first makeshift hospital, one of 16 hurriedly built to handle the epidemic, after it discharged the last recovered patients, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday. ... China’s central Hubei province, the epicenter of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, reported less than 200 cases of new infections for the first time since January. Hubei had 196 new confirmed cases on Sunday, the National Health Commission said on Monday, sharply down from 570 cases a day earlier and the lowest since Jan. 24. (3/1)

As China encourages people to return to work despite the coronavirus outbreak, it has begun a bold mass experiment in using data to regulate citizens’ lives — by requiring them to use software on their smartphones that dictates whether they should be quarantined or allowed into subways, malls and other public spaces. But a New York Times analysis of the software’s code found that the system does more than decide in real time whether someone poses a contagion risk. It also appears to share information with the police, setting a template for new forms of automated social control that could persist long after the epidemic subsides. (Mozur, Zhong and Krolik, 3/1)

More countries reported their first coronavirus fatalities and the toll grew in places such as China, as the number of deaths from the epidemic globally nears 3,000. Hours after the U.S. reported its first fatality, Australia on Sunday announced its first death from the disease known as Covid-19. So did Thailand, more than a month after it became the first country outside of China to report an infection. Italy added five more deaths, with 528 new confirmed cases since Saturday. (Fan, 3/1)

The number of confirmed cases has grown more quickly outside China than in China over the past week, raising the total in other countries past 9,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. In the past day, South Korea, Italy and Iran each reported more new cases than China, which added 202 to bring its tally of confirmed coronavirus infections to 80,026. (Craymer, 3/2)

As the new coronavirus spread rapidly in central China, the country’s authoritarian government took a very authoritarian step: It ordered the unprecedented lockdown of 60 million people in the hardest-hit province. The shutdown of public transport in some cities, the closing of entertainment venues nationwide and a heavy dose of fear emptied the streets of the world’s most populous nation. (Ghosal and Wang, 2/29)

The World Health Organization (WHO) raised the global COVID-19 risk to its highest level today, as cases surged in three hot spots outside China, which are quickly spreading the virus to other countries, with many more—such as Nigeria and Mexico—reporting their first cases. At a media briefing today, WHO officials said the rapid spread of the virus doesn't meet the definition of a pandemic, which would imply every human will likely be exposed. (Schnirring, 2/28)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for stronger anti-virus efforts to guard against COVID-19, saying there will be “serious consequences” if the illness spreads to the country. During a ruling party meeting, Kim called for the country’s anti-epidemic headquarters to strengthen screening and tests to seal off all “channels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, said Saturday. (Tong-Hyung, 2/28)

Iranian authorities have seized millions of medical supplies being hoarded by black-market traders, an effort to alleviate their own shortfall as they battle to contain the world’s second-deadliest national coronavirus outbreak. The death toll from the epidemic in Iran rose to 54 people Sunday, the health ministry said, up from 43 the previous day. The number of confirmed cases rose 65% from the day before to 978. (Eqbali and Rasmussen, 3/1)

A member of a council that advises Iran’s supreme leader died Monday after falling sick from the new coronavirus, state radio reported, becoming the first top official to succumb to the illness striking both citizens and leaders of the Islamic Republic. The death of Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, came as Iran announced the virus had killed 66 people among 1,501 confirmed cases in the country. In two days, the number of confirmed cases has more than doubled, showing the spiraling crisis of the outbreak as Iran says it is preparing to mobilize 300,000 soldiers and volunteers to confront the virus. (3/1)

My Home Harumi, a nursing home in central Tokyo, is on lockdown. Volunteers, service providers and even family members are turned away in hopes of keeping the center sealed against the spreading coronavirus. A sense of crisis pervades the home as employees wear masks, constantly wash their hands and disinfect every surface, said its deputy director, Kumi Iwasaki. (Dooley, Rich and Inoue, 2/29)

If there is a positive impact of the coronavirus epidemic, look for it in Japan, where people are observing better hygiene and the number of influenza cases is far below a typical year. The trend hasn’t been clearly seen in Europe or the U.S., where the threat of the epidemic has begun to hit home only in recent weeks, but if people elsewhere begin to take flu-prevention measures, thousands of lives could be saved. (Inada and Landers, 3/1)

At first, the 47-year-old restaurant owner thought he was just tired from work. Doctors prescribed some cold medicine. But his headache worsened. He started to run a fever. “I still didn’t think I had contracted the coronavirus,” Kim Seung-hwan recalled. “I only saw that on the news about China, and I have not traveled outside South Korea recently.” It was in mid-February, before clusters of coronavirus infection were reported around his hometown, Yeongcheon, about 180 miles southeast of Seoul. But the region would quickly become the center of the country’s outbreak. (Kim, 3/2)

The camera focused on a woman reading a prayer for people infected with the coronavirus, and for the doctors and nurses helping Italy deal with the largest outbreak in Europe. “Lord, hear our prayer,” Julia Kranzelmayer, her husband and three children responded Sunday from the couch of their Milan living room as they followed the Mass on television. “It’s strange to watch it on TV,” she said. (Horowitz, 3/1)

The spreading virus from China has been reported in more than 60 countries and puts the Tokyo Olympics at risk. The Olympics are to open on July 24 — less than five months away. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 25. IOC President Thomas Bach, in an interview last week limited to Japanese media, said the “IOC is fully committed to have the opening ceremony there on July 24th in Tokyo.” He declined to speculate about a postponement, cancellation, or any combination of those possibilities. (Wade, 3/2)